copying category archive

A Library is a Vault for Locking Up Books

Apparently.

U’S DEAL WITH GOOGLE

Disrespect for property

If I were to walk into a photocopy shop and ask for a duplicate of a copyright-protected book, the shop workers would show me the door. It does not matter whether I intended to distribute snippets of the text around the world or do anything else with the copy — the courts have ruled that the unlicensed duplication of an in-copyright book is illegal.

But when the University of Minnesota announces plans to digitally duplicate books, including copyright-protected works, in a commercial project with Internet giant Google (Star Tribune, June 7), it calls the effort groundbreaking and valuable.

As an author who teaches at the University of Minnesota, I wonder how I will talk to students about academic honesty and integrity when the university

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Makin’ Copies! ‘The Promise of a Post-Copyright World’

Remember the Richmeister character from SNL? One of Rob Schneider’s recurring characters. The sketches were funny, although it was the kind of potent stuff that quickly got overplayed.

The catchphrase–Makin’ Copies!–occurred to me today in the wake of several things I’ve been reading about copying. When I looked around I found this transcript that made me smile. (And made me miss Phil Hartman.)

Anyway, it occurs to me to think about what a great thing it is to be able to make copies. Perfect copies. Today of digital information, tomorrow of physical objects. I’m amazed and dismayed at how threatening this is to so many people, and how they would like to restrict and …

Architecture of Annoyance

This isn’t so much an Architectures of Control kind of item, but Dan Lockton’s post about his Epson printer made me think about my own annoyance with my HP scanner. Let’s call it an Architecture of Annoyance.

First, continuing on the pecuniary theme of a recent post, please indulge me in telling you about how I came to own the HP ScanJet 2400. Warning: The story contains a personal revelation of possible copyright infringement. (The copyright musing sprouted all kinds of shoots and leaves, but seems appropriate for a post about optical scanners.)

I don’t have sophisticated scanning needs. I previously owned some cheapo Astra scanner that worked adequately although clunkily and finally went kerplunk while I was scanning a book I had picked up from the library.

Copyright: Danger!

Oh, oh. …